1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an airbag apparatus including an airbag housed in a folded state and an inflator for supplying the airbag with inflation gas.
2. Description of Related Art
An airbag apparatus is known from JP 2003-81050: the apparatus has a hybrid inflator provided with a body including a squib or ignition device and a reservoir containing a pressurized gas. When the squib is ignited, a sealing member which has closed off the reservoir initially is broken to allow a first inflation gas to be discharged from a single discharge port located at a leading end of the inflator. After the first inflation gas is discharged from the reservoir, a gas generant arranged around the squib is combusted to generate a second inflation gas so that the internal pressure of an airbag is kept high for a prolonged period of time.
In the above airbag apparatus, despite the advantage that the internal pressure of the airbag is kept high for a long time, the internal pressure of the airbag tends to increase unduly at the initial stage of inflation because the inflator is configured to discharge the inflation gas rapidly from the single discharge port in the initial stage of airbag inflation. This arrangement can damage a vehicle occupant.